This isn't Dolphins related so maybe this will have to be moved to another thread, but I had a question regarding the 49ers salary-cap situation and the retirement of their offensive tackle Anthony Davis. Watching the Dolphins replay on NFL network, I noticed on the scroller at the bottom of the screen that he will be returning $4.66 million of his signing bonus. Will the Niners get a refund on the cap hit as well, or will that stay at the original amount regarding Anthony Davis' contract and his signing bonus?

I thought signing bonuses were paid immediately and the cap hit applied immediately as well toward the current or next season. Can teams spread the salary cap number from the signing bonus over multiple seasons?

I thought signing bonuses were paid immediately and the cap hit applied immediately as well toward the current or next season. Can teams spread the salary cap number from the signing bonus over multiple seasons?

In fact, teams almost always do now. It would be very rare for a team NOT to prorate a signing bonus, even if they have a huge amount of cap room. Before teams could carry over cap room from one season to the next, I would often wonder why a team with a huge amount of room in one given season wouldn't just eat the whole cap hit right then and there, but they just didn't do it that way. Now, its a bit of a moot point.

Of course, there are other kinds of bonuses that will hit all at once in one season. These are often used when a team wants to be able to "go year to year" on a guy for whatever reason. Forces the team to make a descesion on a guy early in the offseason.